Happy Record Store Day!

inthefade:

Today is Record Store Day. To mark this occasion, I will visit a record store or two later today, and I will also repost this piece [updated] I wrote for True/Slant.

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I’ve never met a CD that made me fall in love with it like a record. I’ll still love the music, but the CD is just a container for that music, where a record is part of the entire music experience.

I’ve said it before I think, but the thing is that a vinyl requires attention. The interaction of flipping sides and looking very closely to find a particular song. Unlike a CD or mp3, you can’t push a next button. (Even though there are electric turntables that can lift the needle and move the arm up or down the grooves at the flick of a button. Tommy borrowed mine when I got a new one, I hope you use it!) It’s not a medium for casual listening.

The audiophile medium is probably something like flac, there are too many imperfections in vinyl. It is however the format for people who love music, I have no doubt about that — because of as you say the pops and hisses and personalities each copy develops. In a way, they’re alive.